


Rekindling the Fire

by Taste_of_Suburbia



Category: Fantastic Four (Movies 2005-2007)
Genre: Aftermath, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Depressed and Angry Johnny, Depression, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Constipation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, Family, Family Feels, Fandom Stocking 2017, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Open Relationships, Revelations, Romance, caring Ben
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 00:50:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13224738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taste_of_Suburbia/pseuds/Taste_of_Suburbia
Summary: It’s high time for Ben to knock some sense into Johnny, and have Johnny do the same to him in the process.





	Rekindling the Fire

**Author's Note:**

  * For [msermesth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/msermesth/gifts).



> Written for dcm and msermesth for Fandom Stocking. Prompts for **dcm** are happy endings, first times/get together, hurt/comfort and especially loss of powers aftermath. Prompts for **msermesth** are fights/argument/banter, angst of the missed opportunity variety, emotional constipation, confusion about love, when characters aren’t their best selves, when characters hurt the other and feel awful, and happy/hopeful endings. Initially this was written for dcm around their loss of powers aftermath prompt, but then it kept growing from there and I realized how many prompts I ended up unknowingly using from msermesth’s stocking; hence I am gifting it to _both_ of you. This is my first foray into this fandom, so I hope it’s decent. Happy 2018!
> 
> Loss of powers aftermath AU. This ran away from me and also sorta became a Ben/Johnny/Alicia open relationship au, with Ben/Johnny having been unrequited up to this point.
> 
>  **Soundtrack:** The Who’s _Bargain_

* * *

_~I sit looking_ _‘round, I look at my face in the mirror_

 _I know I_ _’m worth nothing… without you_

 _And like one and one don_ _’t make two_

_One and one make one_

_And I_ _’m looking for that free ride to me_

 _I_ _’m looking for you~_

* * *

 

Ben wasn’t taking the news so well, though it didn’t really matter because Johnny was taking it _worse._

It was odd, seeing someone so frenetic and someone who loved the chase - chasing after life and women and _trouble_ \- just laying in bed for _days._ Johnny had barely moved an inch in that agonized stretch of time, staring at the wall or at the sheets, and sometimes his eyes were closed as if he couldn’t even bear that, as if he could no longer pretend that he gave a damn about life. 

If Ben weren’t currently rooming with Johnny then maybe he could ignore it, maybe he could leave it all for Sue to analyze. If Ben didn’t think about Johnny every time he went to bed, worry about seeing him in that same catatonic state when he woke each morning from a less than restful sleep…

Johnny could try to hide from the world, but he couldn’t hide from Ben.

Ben wouldn’t allow it.

As hard as Ben himself was taking all of it: the Fantastic Four losing their extraordinary and sometimes hazardous abilities, the difficulty of readjusting to being in a wholly _human_ body, he couldn’t deny there were perks either. His relationship with Alicia would no longer be stilted, and he could again easily blend in with a crowd. He could _enjoy_ life again, like an actual _ordinary_ human being.

But seeing Johnny like this, so broken, so utterly _convinced_ that without his fire he could no longer live, it made Ben _want_ to be The Thing again. He realized in one earth-shattering moment, a moment so silent he could have sworn that his ability to hear had been robbed along with everything else, he realized as he stared at a vacant Johnny that he would give _anything_ to get the old Johnny back, no regrets, no take backs, _anything._

He should have wanted to be with Alicia, enjoy the time that may only be temporary, so why didn’t he?

Because, despite everything, despite Reed scrambling to figure out what the hell had gone wrong a fortnight ago, they were still the Fantastic Four. They were _still_ a family.

Taking their more-than-human abilities away, pulling away the shield they used to confront those who sought to harm the world and others, it didn’t take _them_ away, what they were, the extraordinary feats they accomplished by just being together, pulling their heads together and working a way around their latest problem.

He could try to convince Johnny that the Fantastic Four would be up again in no time, _with_ their unique, individualized powers, even if he didn’t fully believe that himself, despite the genius ability of Reed to figure out just about anything that was thrown at them, but the words wouldn’t come and he knew _why._

Ben needed to convince Johnny to believe in _himself_ , a feat he had never quite accomplished. There was more to Johnny than the Human Torch, more to Johnny than showing off and charming women and putting up a brave front.

Underneath that tough-as-nails, charming, bad boy exterior there was an insecure, confused little boy afraid of being ignored and abandoned. Ben ignored him most of the time, Johnny’s abrasive, confrontational manner making it easy to do so, but Ben knew just how wrong he had been, to ignore all the qualities that made Johnny human just because they were almost impossible to see.

If Sue’s heart could be big enough to endure and forgive all her little brother’s mistakes, then Ben’s heart, it seemed, was too.

He should have done this a _long_ time ago; he should have done a _lot_ of things. 

“Up and at ‘em, Hotshot. Can’t spend the rest of your life in bed.”

Johnny mumbled something and then rolled over to face the wall.

Ben huffed and pushed his way further into the room, ignoring the overpowering smell of grief and unwashed skin, wondering if he should open the drapes and turning to flick the nearest lamp on instead. Johnny groaned, raising a hand over his eyes, but Ben was just getting started.

“So… what, you’re not even going to congratulate me? Notice something different about me lately?”

He shouldn’t be throwing that in his face, Ben knew, not when what he no longer had was all Johnny could dwell on, but Johnny lashing out at him would be the first step in Ben taking him where he needed to go.

Better to have Johnny angry at him than remaining apathetic and self-loathing.

“Congrats. Grab a beer for yourself on the way out.”

At least Johnny was engaging with him. _Step one_ , Ben mused, hands nearly rubbing together in excitement - with a tinge of dread - at the feat he was about to pull. And Johnny thought _he_ was the only one who could play with fire, who could pull something off so amazing that the personal accomplishment outweighed everything else, even one’s self-preservation.

The second Johnny lunged at him, Ben hoped he would know he had made the right move, the only move he _could_ make.

“So what’s the big plan then, huh? You’re just not even gonna try? You loved embodying the Human Torch, it overinflated your ego and your lust for life, after all. Are you too scared to face the world without him, without your _crutch?_ _”_

“Lay off, Ben.”

 _Step two,_ Ben realized with satisfaction. Poke and prod and antagonize until Johnny had to explode or find a way out. 

“And what about Sue and Reed? Ever stop to think about how they feel about all this? The fact that they’re working day and night to _fix_ this _?_ You’re not even there, you don’t even care. Then again, you never were there when we needed you the most. Not unless it gave you a chance to _show off._ _”_

Johnny flipped over, punching the nearest pillow, shooting Ben a glance that screamed ‘back off or else.’ _Make me, Hotshot._ “We all know _you_ were the only one who didn’t want any of that, and that’s just _fine,_ Ben. But can you go gloat somewhere else? Now that you’re not made of _pebbles_ anymore, shouldn’t be so hard to find someone _else_ to talk to.”

Ben sat down on the edge of the bed, trying not to dwell in how soft the sheets were, how they smelled overpoweringly of Johnny. Of _home._ He closed his eyes and yanked himself out of his thoughts, took a calming, steadying breath and tried _again_ , focusing on how to pack a life-affirming punch with a more damaging yet somehow less painful blow.

“How about you get out of bed and show the world the _real_ Johnny Storm?”

“How about you _join_ me in bed and I show _you_ the real Johnny Storm?” In Ben’s most amazing dreams, he would take him up on that. In real life, Ben had made too many _stupid_ mistakes. “The world doesn’t want the real Johnny Storm, Ben, and neither do you. So quit asking like it’s an option.”

Ben pitched his voice low, making sure he spoke slowly and clearly. He leaned closer to Johnny, whose eyes were closed, his breathing forced. He had to _make_ him listen, ensure he wouldn’t miss a single word or Ben’s meaning.

Had he make sure Johnny knew he cared enough to _try_ to put things right.

“They don’t make us who we are, Johnny. You weren’t a better or a worse man with them, you were just _Johnny._ And you still are.” Funny how Ben recently stopped thinking of Johnny not as a kid but as a man, and maybe he had been the one to thrust that upon him. 

Johnny nodded, but Ben could tell he wasn’t hearing much of what he was saying, if anything at all. He reached around and patted Johnny’s back reassuringly, his newly acquired human skin still amazing him after not seeing it in _so long._ He spent a long time staring at his hand on Johnny’s back, losing sight of what he was doing there in the first place: being there for the person he loved and worried about more than anyone else.

“What are you doing here, anyway? Shouldn’t you be off enjoying your new body with Alicia? I’m sure she’d like that, I’m sure she’ll forget all about me and the rest of the world once you finally get her in bed all to yourself.”

Johnny’s words should have angered him, encouraged him, but Ben was so used to them by now, so used to the pain laced in each one - a pain he would upon instinct ignore - that he could no longer ignite his rage to act upon them. All he could do was sit there, watching Johnny curled in on himself, and try to convince him that he wasn’t _nothing_.

But Johnny wasn’t done yet; it seemed Ben was getting more than he had bargained for.

“You threw her at me because you couldn’t give her the most important thing. All you had was the promise that you’d stick around, but you weren’t _there,_ Ben, you were just in the background. You made me promise to be there for her and I was, I always will be, but you made me feel like an ass for making her feel _good,_ for doing what _you_ asked me to do, what you _couldn_ _’t_ do _._ You pushed me away despite the fact that I was _there_ , the whole damn time. I love her, Ben, but I was never in the way of what you two had. You _put_ me in the way. And you know what? It sure as hell wasn’t worth losing you.”

 _Losing me? Johnny, you haven_ _’t lost me yet…_

“Johnny, you have to understand….” Understand what? Putting Johnny in the line of fire because of how much he bragged that that’s where he wanted to be? Foolishly not thinking of the consequences, ridiculing Johnny’s selflessness as his typical selfishness. Understand that putting together the two people he wanted and couldn’t have was his own messed up way of coping? 

But then… _Oh God._ In Johnny’s eyes, Ben made him the throwaway.

“ _No._ No matter what you try to put on me I won’t brush it off just like _that._ I won’t give into it. Don’t you get it, Ben? Don’t you see it? ‘Cause I do. All the distractions. All the convincing yourself that you weren’t enough. You’re the only one that factors into that equation, _Ben._ If you’re enough for you then surely you’re enough for her. If she couldn’t take it, if you couldn’t take it….”

Johnny finally took a long breath, almost sounding as if he were choking. Everything he was saying utterly _devastated_ Ben, because all of it was the truth that Ben had buried underneath layers of dirt and pain and longing and self-denial this _whole time_.

“Then don’t take it out on me,” Johnny finished, words so quiet but dealing a _deafening_ blow. “I took care of Alicia because you’re my best friend, you’ve always had my back and so I’ve always had yours, but I can’t _give_ anymore, man. I just _can_ _’t_ do it.” Johnny’s voice cracked on the can’t, and all of Ben’s reservations for _not_ doing what his heart was now shoving him towards flew right out the goddamn window.

His hands were on Johnny’s shoulders without thought, holding him in place, not with force but with a desperate yet hesitant _need._ With the pulsing pleasure and sheer certainty of physical touch it was like he could feel his emotions _thousandfold_ now.

“You’re right, Johnny. God, you’re the smartest… the most _important_ person in the world to me right now. Always have been.”

He ignored Johnny’s gaping mouth, his fingers uncurling, the way he was sweating and shaking and trying not to sob and scream and hit Ben, like it was killing him not to. Ben pushed on, nearly screaming himself, pushed on through the frustration and pain and self-loathing that _he_ had been the one to hurt Johnny the most. _He_ had been the idiot.

Ben breathed in the suffocating, sweat-soaked room: _he_ had caused this.

“It was always _you._ Watching you make love to her was just a way to ignore what was in front of me all along. It was me that should have been there in that bed, making love to _you,_ making you feel worthwhile, making you see how much you’ve meant to me all these years.”

“What the hell are you talking ab…?”

In two strides Ben was _there,_ mouth covering Johnny’s own, taking, claiming, _loving_. He could feel _fire_ rippling between them, fueling him, a figment of his imagination but beautifully simple and pure nonetheless. He could touch again, _feel_ again, and Johnny felt like his own slice of heaven. _His._ Especially when he realized with a brimming heart that Johnny was kissing him back, pouring all of himself into Ben, like he had hid all of himself away with Alicia, held back just so he could have Ben.

This wasn’t a dream. This was all _real_ and the world was slowing down enough so it could just be about _them_ and not about stress or worry or insecurity.

Ben’s mouth was on _fire_ and he could feel Johnny’s hair and his skin, god his _skin,_ how soft it was and how electric Johnny’s tongue felt, how every motion Johnny made against him sent him reeling and grounded him all at once.

No more pushing Johnny away, even if they somehow got back and Ben had the short end of the stick again.

Even if Johnny unnerved him at times and they argued and fought like an old married couple.

Even if Johnny pushed him away and it never quite stopped hurting.

If nothing else could be constant in Johnny Storm’s life then Ben would be. He would be the rock, the anchor that tied him to the world, to the best parts of himself. He would love Johnny Storm because he _knew_ him, better than anyone else.

He knew him and he would never _let go._

 

* * *

  _~I_ _’d gladly lose me to find you_

 _I_ _’d gladly give up all I got_

 _To catch you I_ _’m gonna run and never stop~_

* * *

 

**FIN**


End file.
